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Road Trip - Fall 2012
Several opportunities came together for me and Mike to take a full two-week road-trip vacation in late October 2012. We had been wanting to pay a visit to our cousins in Québec, but we didn't want to have to rush our visit, considering the long trip required (over 1,300 miles from here to there). Then we learned about a science fiction convention taking place in a city we'd never been to before, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and realized that, once we drove as far as Québec, visiting Halifax as well would mean only a "slight detour" (12 more hours on the road, more or less) before turning south and returning home (we enjoy making big circles when we do a road trip, rather than retracing our steps...more interesting that way!)
We headed out from Minneapolis to the east and north, getting as far as a beautiful B&B in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for our first night's lodging. The next day, about 9 hours on the road (plus a leisurely lunch break) got us to Pembroke, Ontario. Our third day was easy: about 3 hours to get to Montreal, where we spent several hours seeing the sights before finishing the final 3 hours to Québec that evening.
We spent two full days in Québec, enjoying the generous hospitality of our cousins, who took us to lunches and dinners at lovely retaurants and suggested several enjoyable places for me and Mike to explore on our own. The weather was cool but sunny, perfect for exploring the winding streets of the Haut-Ville and Bas-Ville (upper and lower parts of the Old City).
Leaving Québec, another full day of driving brought us to the Bay of Fundy, famous for its high and low tide extremes. Because of the season, the visitor center at Hopewell Rocks was closed, but we could still walk along the upper pathways and get a good view of the interesting formations: what appear to be little islands at high tide are revealed, at low tide, to be pillars carved by the neverending flow of water.
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Blaney Park Resort, Michigan
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In Montreal, serendipity led us to
a fancy chocolate contest!
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Sculptures on Québec's
La promenade
Samuel-De Champlain
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Sculpture framing our trusty rental car |
Fall colors on the St. Lawrence |
Evelyn, Ethel, me, Lilian,
Jean-Jacques and Mike |
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Shopping in Vieux Québec |
Le Chateau Frontenac,
seen from the Bas Ville |
Wonderful tromp l'oeil art
in Vieux Québec |
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Low tide, Hopewell Rocks,
Bay of Fundy |
Hopewell Rocks park,
near Moncton, New Brunswick |
Second half of trip, Halifax and homeward
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